Mobile Phones

Say goodbye to your pokey 3G MiFi. Verizon Wireless and Novatel Wireless today announced that the MiFi 4510L 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot that runs on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network is available online today. The 4G LTE MiFi 4510L is available online at www.verizonwireless.com and will be in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores on April 21 for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a 4G Mobile Broadband plan. 4G LTE Mobile Broadband plans begin at $50 monthly access for 5GB.

The MiFi 4510L lets you share the connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices simultaneously. I was hoping they'd increase the number of device to ten by now.

When Steve Jobs and Apple blocked Adobe Flash from Apple's popular line of mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), Apple's main claims against Flash were that it was too processor-heavy, a battery hog, and that HTML5 was a better standard for the future. Rich Tehrani calls it the "Apple Tax". According to the HTTP Archive project, a website that tracks over 17,000 top websites and lets you compare web statistics over time, Flash experienced a 2% drop in usage over the last 4 months. It went from 49% on November 15, 2010 to 47% on March 29, 2011.

Rich Tehrani gives his reasons why Google needs to launch what I'll call "Google Store", a direct retail competitor to the Apple Stores located in many malls and cities around the country. Only one problem with this is that Google only sells Android products to consumers. Apple stores sell a variety of products including laptops, tablets, computers, iPods, iPod/iPhone accessories, Mac software, etc.

Nortel's carcass continues to be picked at, with many golden nuggets discovered, making their demise all the more surprising.
Google is offering $900 million for 6,000 Nortel telecom patents covering 4G, wireless, data networking, optical, voice, semiconductors and other telecom areas, according to ZDNet.

The tech world has recently seen an explosion in patent litigation, often involving low-quality software patents, which threatens to stifle innovation. Some of these lawsuits have been filed by people or companies that have never actually created anything; others are motivated by a desire to block competing products or profit from the success of a rival’s new technology. The patent system should reward those who create the most useful innovations for society, not those who stake bogus claims or file dubious lawsuits. It's for these reasons that Google has long argued in favor of real patent reform, which we believe will benefit users and the U.S.

Apple just released iOS 4.3.1 today for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad that includes some bug fixes and no major improvements. One bug fix fixes image flicker when connecting the new Digital AV Adapter to televisions. According to Apple, this update:

Fixes an occasional graphics glitch on the 4th generation iPod touch

Resolves bugs relating to activating and connecting to some cellular networks

What's most annoying about all these new updates is I have to re-jailbreak my phone and hope/wait for a new jailbreak utility. I have wonder if Apple will intentionally start issuing more releases with "bug" fixes that also plug the current jailbreak exploits.

The Japanese earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor problems have had a devastating effect not just on people's live and property, but also the Japanese semiconductor industry which accounts for 25% of the global supply of silicon wafer. This will affect pricing on everything from PCs to smartphones to gadgets. Not good. Check out the news with additional information after the jump...

Apple plans to take a 30% cut of all subscriptions on the iPhone & iPad. According to Techcrunch, Steve Jobs explained:

“Our philosophy is simple—when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing. All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app. We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers.”

This is a game changer! Will taking a 30% cut of 3rd party subscriptions cause a mass exodus of developers to Google Android?

According to the OpenBTS Project, OpenBTS is an open-source Unix application that uses the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) to present a GSM air interface ("Um") to standard GSM handset and uses Asterisk software to connect calls leveraging SIP and VoIP.

The goal of the project is to reduce the cost of GSM service provision in rural areas and the developing world. They explain, "In plain language, we are working on a new kind of cellular network that can be installed and operated at about 1/10 the cost of current technologies, but that will still be compatible with most of the handsets that are already in the market. This technology can also be used in private network applications (wireless PBX, rapid deployment, etc.) at much lower cost and complexity than conventional cellular."

During the past few Burning Man festivals, OpenBTS has performed a week-long live field test under special temporary WE9XJN authorization to use certain wireless frequencies.

Former FCC Chief Kevin Martin will be a keynote speaker at ITEXPO taking place February 2-4th in Miami, Florida.

Some background on Kevin Martin. In a resignation statement on his philosophy at the FCC he stated it "has been to pursue deregulation while paying close attention to its impact on consumers and the particulars of a given market, to balance deregulation with consumer protection." Martin added that he "approached his decisions with a fundamental belief that a robust, competitive marketplace, not regulation, is ultimately the best protector of the public interest and the best method of delivering the benefits of choice, innovation and affordability to American consumers."

The statement also included what Martin accomplished during his tenure, including one promoting broadband, and specifically wireless broadband, and protecting consumers from harm, by issuing $150 million in fines, or more than any other chairman. On January 15, 2009 Kevin Martin announced his resignation when the Obama Administration took over. In his letter of resignation to President Bush, Martin wrote, “I have had the privilege of serving at the Federal Communications Commission for almost 8 years, including 4 years as the agency’s Chairman.